


Your Voice is My Favorite Sound

by army_of_angels



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Werewolves, Getting Together, Insecure Derek Hale, Jock Stiles Stilinski, M/M, Mutual Pining, Nerd Derek Hale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:14:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24421120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/army_of_angels/pseuds/army_of_angels
Summary: Derek has had a crush on Stiles since Freshman Year. It's Junior Year and suddenly Stiles is paying attention to him but it's probably some sort of prank, right?
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 12
Kudos: 358





	Your Voice is My Favorite Sound

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Inspired by Teen Wolf.

Stiles Stilinski had always been on Derek’s radar. They never really crossed paths in middle school but everyone recognized the Sheriff’s troublemaker kid. Then, freshman year they had had a couple of classes together and Derek was exposed to all that was Stiles - exuberant, intelligent, _pretty_ Stiles.

So, for the next two years Derek pined. Sophomore year their schedules didn’t match up so he has to settle for brief glimpses of Stiles in the hallway or cafeteria and at lacrosse games. Luckily, Isaac, one of Derek’s only three friends, was also on the lacrosse team so he had an excuse for his supposed school spirit.

Stiles was graceless everywhere but the lacrosse field. Even if Derek could have mustered up the courage to approach him, Stiles’s jock status pretty much ensured that he was constantly surrounded by similarly loud friends, always had a different date to the dances, and, most importantly, zero reason to speak to a nerd like Derek.

\--

It was the first day of Junior year and Derek was prepared for another long, uneventful school year. He hadn’t seen Stiles all summer other than on his Instagram feed ( _“it’s not stalking if his profile’s public, Erica”_ ) and in his fantasies (Stiles’s posts showed that he had grown his hair out and he had been hot with the buzzcut but now… _fuck_ ). Stiles had also apparently broken up with his latest girlfriend, Heather, but Derek was under no illusions – he was just hoping to at least have a class or two with the guy.

By the time Derek was walking into his last period, AP English, he had given up on seeing his crush. His previous class was right across the hall so he was the first one into the room, snagging a nice seat in the back. He was honestly annoyed with himself; he should be happy! His teachers seemed decent (no Harris this year, thank god), he had at least one friend in all but two classes, and, based on the enthusiastic greeting he had gotten, that girl Paige was still interested in him. She actually kind of looked like a female version of Stiles…and, yup, he was an asshole if that was what he liked most about her.

His classmates trickled in with Boyd taking the desk to his right and Danny (one of Stiles’s exes, his mind trivially noted) taking the one to his left. Derek was still bothered by his previous thoughts and didn’t notice the presence hovering in front of him until long, slender fingers tapped out a quick cadence on his desk.

Already glaring at the nuisance, he was startled to see Stiles staring at him, wide smile aimed directly at him.

“Sup, Hale. How was your summer, dude?”

What. Yes, that was a basic first-day-back query but why was Stiles asking _him_? His confused silence caused Stiles’s smile to falter slightly but he seemed otherwise unfazed by Derek’s reticence.

“Oo-kay then. Uh, I was just wondering if you would mind switching seats? Actually, I don’t have one to “switch” per se, but you know what I mean. I just want to sit with Danny and Lydia so if that’s chill with you…?”

Ah. And, yup, there was an expectant Lydia sitting right in front of a more bemused Danny. Everyone knew that Lydia was the only one to have rejected Stiles and between every fling Stiles made a big show of trying again. And didn’t he just break up with Heather?

Still annoyed from earlier and now more so that _Lydia_ was the reason Stiles had actually spoken to him for a non-scholastic reason, he finally managed to form words.

“No.” Okay, he managed to form _one_ word but even while jealous it was hard to deny those amber puppy eyes anything! His response clearly surprised his surrounding classmates and that just stoked his irritation.

He was expecting Stiles to press more but instead he just cocked his head to the side and stared at him curiously for a moment before acquiescing and turning to find an empty chair. Lydia glared at him for another second before she too turned back towards the front.

The class went by fairly quickly and Ms. Blake seemed chill enough. The final bell rang and Derek and Boyd made there wait out to the school parking lot to wait for Erica and Isaac. As they were leaning against the car talking, Derek felt eyes on him and looked around but didn’t see anybody looking their way.

A few minutes later, as he was slipping off his leather jacket, he reflexively looked up and – oh. Stiles was staring straight at him. He felt one of his eyebrows go up and, even from a distance, he could see the dark blush appear on Stiles as he quickly averted his gaze.

Derek quickly dismissed it as the guy must have zoned out, happened to be looking in his direction and was embarrassed when he realized he was inadvertently staring at someone. Still, it was unusual seeing the sarcastic, confident jock flustered and it was actually pretty endearing.

\--

A week into the school year, they started their first unit on The Great Gatsby. Ms. Blake was a decent teacher for the most part except for apparent love of Popcorn, a – game? lesson plan? - where a student starts reading the required text for a paragraph or page or whatever then says “Popcorn: _insert another student’s name_ ” and then whoever was named had to take over reading the next bit and so on like a reading relay, as long as nobody reads twice.

Derek absolutely hated it. He thought it was a waste of time when they could surely read the text much faster in their heads, and he would have to re-read it after class anyway because he couldn’t concentrate when other people were reading. He was always nervous that he was going to be called and tried to read a paragraph ahead because there was nothing more embarrassing that stumbling over your words in front of the whole class.

It didn’t help that one of Derek’s biggest insecurities was his voice. His Uncle Peter always mocked him for being “soft,” especially in comparison to his more aggressive sisters, Laura and Cora. One thing Peter always mentioned was how his voice wasn’t low enough for a “man.” Derek knew it was idiotic but some things just stick with you and hurt whether it makes sense or not. So, Derek was really starting to resent Stiles Stilinski.

The first time it happened Derek didn’t think much of it. As soon as the class had been seated, Ms. Blake had told them to take out their copies of The Great Gatsby and that they were going to spend the whole period Popcorn reading, one page per person. Class was almost over and Derek was anxiously scanning the classroom to see who else could still be picked and calculating how many pages could be read in the time left of class.

Derek had suddenly realized that people were staring at him and Ms. Blake was telling him what page number to read as if he just hadn’t been paying attention. Which he hadn’t been, but still. He finished reading, apologetically naming Boyd next (as he was his only friend in the class), and tried to settle his nerves.

It wasn’t until the bell rang that he realized that Stiles was the one reading before him. He shook away any tendrils of thought (hope?), reasoning that there were so few people left to choose, even if he had been noticing Stiles looking his way a lot ever since the first day.

Then it happened again, and again after that, and then again once more until Derek barely waited for Stiles to stop reading and turn and nominate him with an infuriating smirk before he started reading, trying to get it over with as quickly as possible. Derek didn’t understand what the jock was playing at but he understood enough to see that he was the butt of the joke. Everyone knew it was just weird if you picked, albeit apologetically, someone who wasn’t your friend and Stiles had plenty of friends in the class, including Lydia and Danny.

He knew Stiles liked to pull pranks with McCall but this wasn’t particularly funny for anybody and just annoying and uncomfortable for him. Was this just some stupid revenge for not switching seats with him? Granted Derek didn’t know him personally, but after years of admiring ( _“creeping, Der, you know, like a creeper”_ ) Stiles he really hadn’t thought he was this petty and it was kind of disappointing.

This Pavlovian pattern continued until the end of the unit and into the next, “Jane Eyre,” - Ms. Blake proving to not be very creative with her lesson plans. Boyd, ever the voice of reason, suggested that he just talk to Stiles and ask him what his deal was and to please stop. At least his friend agreed that it was weird and purposeful but that was such parental advice, Stiles would just laugh in his face!

Erica thought he was being over-dramatic and shouldn’t he be happy that Stiles was actually paying him any attention? She always did have a soft spot for Stiles, though, since he had helped her with some bullies in middle school during a particularly bad seizure. Hell, a shared crush on Stiles was what brought them even closer Freshman year before Erica realized her feelings for Boyd.

Isaac just shrugged and said, “speak to him or suck it up and shut up.” It didn’t feel great to hear but they were right. Still, Derek agonized over how to go about it. His anger would normally override his shyness but this was _Stiles_ and even after all this Derek couldn’t help but be completely gone on the guy.

Finally, he decided to talk to him after class on the last day before winter break, that way, when it was inevitably awkward as fuck, he could ~~run away~~ leave school and not see anybody for two weeks.

\--

Stiles kept at it and then it was the day before break and Ms. Blake was just letting them have a holiday party instead of trying to get a bunch of teenagers to focus an hour before vacation. Derek was probably the only one not happy with that; he was hoping to have a fresh example of Stiles Popcorn-ing him and instead he was going to look like a loser complaining after a “party.” Well, Derek reasoned with himself, Stiles already thought he was lame so it’s not like he had much to lose. It was not that comforting.

Nobody was actually in their correct seats so Stiles was surrounded by a group of friends across the room. Derek had to pause for a second as Stiles threw his head back in a rich, deep laugh, moles dotting his long neck and up his cheeks – he was beautiful. How the hell was he going to confront him? But…there was only a few minutes before the bell and if he didn’t do this now, he would be reading aloud for another six _months_.

Derek gathered his stuff, put on his jacket (which kind of felt like armor at the moment), and stood up. Thankfully, the rest of the class had the same idea and the little groups more or less disbanded. He was also grateful that Boyd stayed at his shoulder in silent support as he crossed the room. Stiles had his back to them but Lydia raised her eyebrows and Danny leaned in and whispered something that caused Stiles to spin so quickly that he lost balance.

Suddenly, he had an armful of flannel and wide eyes staring up at him. Derek blinked, not really sure what just happened, but all too soon Stiles was flailing back onto his feet and away from him.

“Whoa, nice save, dude! You’re really strong – I didn’t know you could get muscles like those holed up in the library!” Stiles smirked but the snark was contradicted by the blush taking over his features.

Derek just rolled his eyes and somehow the taunt actually loosened up the knot of anxiety in his chest – it’s something Laura would say and he can work with that. “Can I talk to you for a second?” It comes out gruffer then he meant but baby steps okay, it’s still Stiles.

He gets a “sure” but neither Stiles or his friends are moving and Derek would rather not have an audience for this. The bell rings with impeccable timing and everyone’s rushing out the door. Thankfully, Lydia and Danny have some sort of eye conversation with Stiles which concluded with them leaving too. Ms. Blake’s the only one left and she was not paying any attention to them.

Stiles isn’t much shorter than Derek but the way he was looking up through his eyelashes was _doing things_ to Derek who suddenly felt really close and alone with his crush for the first time. Stiles was giving him an expectant look, though, and was tapping his foot. He looked nervous but that wouldn’t make sense so maybe he was just antsy to get away from Derek and regroup with people on his level.

“I don’t know why you get off on calling on me for Popcorn every. single. time. but can you not? Is this weird revenge for not switching seats with you on the first day?”

As Derek’s speaking, he sees Stiles face go from nervous to disappointed to surprised to sheepish to amused to incredulous and he doesn’t really know how to unpack all that.

“Dude, what?! You seriously think I care about that and would be that petty?”

“Don’t call me dude. And, I don’t know, I don’t really know you except for the fact that you’ve made this class miserable for me all year.”

“Oh. Shit. You have got to believe me that that was honestly not my intention at all. I am so sorry. When we get back from break, I promise I will never Popcorn you and, hey, I’ll make sure nobody else does either unless you’re like the only one left of course because -”

Derek was…not expecting that. He always knew underneath the cocky posturing that Stiles was a good guy but he was also kind of a stereotypical popular kid. Why was he doing it if not to make fun of him? He realized too late that he said the question part of that thought aloud.

And then Stiles just looked…small? He wasn’t sure because he had never seen Stiles look like that and he _knows_ Stiles’s looks.

“Oh, man, this is embarrassing, especially since you apparently hate me... Basically, I’d never really thought about you before but when I asked to switch seats with you, I noticed that you, um, you just have a really nice voice. And then you said no which, duh, you have every right to, but most people here just let me do whatever I want and as stupid as it sounds that was just kind of refreshing? And then I noticed that your pretty reserved and I didn’t know how to approach you but I really wanted to hear your voice again and, wow, okay this sounds a lot creepier out loud and feel free here to just shut me up, seriously, please step in-”

“You weren’t fucking with me?”

Derek feels like his world has been completely turned around and this is so not how any of the versions of this conversation he had prepared for had gone in his head. But Stiles is nodding emphatically and he looks so earnest and he’s biting his lip pretty hard… Still, he can’t help but be suspicious…

“My voice sucks, though. And you’re so outgoing; why would you suddenly have a problem talking to me?”

“Dude, what?!” Stiles looks personally offended, “Your voice is one of my favorite things about you! And, yeah, you’re right I normally don’t have a problem talking to my crushes but usually I can tell if they’re interested in me, too. I couldn’t get a read on you; hell, I asked around and nobody even knew if you were into dudes!”

Derek’s brain had officially short-circuited. He was going to wake up any second now because the most popular guy in school (aka the guy he’s been in love with for over two years) can’t possibly have just said he has a crush on him (aka the quiet nerd with apparently RBF). He finally just managed to blurt out, “I am.”

Stiles was beet red and looked mildly horrified but still sassed back, “I’m going to need you to be a bit more specific there, big guy.”

And Derek really hopes this wasn’t some kind of long con but if Stiles is being genuine then he can’t pass this chance up.

“I am into guys. And, I, uh, I am, um, in-into you. Too. Yeah.”

Stiles narrows his eyes at him suspiciously as if Derek’s the one that might be pranking him. Derek just shuffled his feet and eyed the exit where he could see both his and Stiles’s friends had now gathered. But then Stiles is fucking _beaming_ at him and whoa.

Stiles seemed to be regaining his composure a lot more easily then Derek. He looked like his normal confident self but his tone was clearly hopeful when he somewhat hesitantly asked Derek if he was busy right now.

Derek was a bit overwhelmed and just needed to process this whole conversation even if he’d love to go hang out with Stiles. He got a bit braver when Stiles’s face fell when he said that he couldn’t. The frown didn’t last long because then Derek’s suggested tomorrow night and suddenly he was putting his freaking number in Stiles’s phone.

\--

Derek’s winter break was filled spending time with his family, friends, and _boyfriend_. While Stiles texts his friends, he will only call Derek because he insists that he just really loves the sound of his voice.

**Author's Note:**

> I know it's not great, especially the ending, sorry. But hey first thing I've written in like 7 years!


End file.
